Chapter 3. the Homestake Mine (24Pa875)
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CHAPTER 3. THE HOMESTAKE MINE (24PA875) -- On the following day I left for the New World District, where I arrived in good time. During my stay in the camp, I recorded several claims...This time I remained but a few days as winter had already set in in the shape of a 4 inch snow, with a very fair prospect of being several feet in a short time, & this on the 12th day of August, 1872. -A.B. Henderson, August 12th, 1872 from: “Journal of Various Prospecting Trips, Stampedes, and [etc.] During the years 1871 and 1872” 3-1 Description This site was a significant mining operation in the New World Mining District between 1887 and 1929. The mine was in operation from 1887 to about 1890 and again from 1921 to 1929, with limited open pit mining occurring in the late 1940s. It was associated with the Gold Dust Mine (24PA874) and was connected to that mine by a 700-foot long aerial tram (24PA879). Most, if not all, structures remaining at the site are associated with the 1921 to 1929 period of operation. Western Smelting and Power Co. (or its predecessors) acquired and developed the Homestake Mine and its related workings, starting in 1916. There are a total of four adits and a small amount of open pit excavation on the Homestake claim. Three of the adits are now collapsed and buried; one of these can no longer be identified. A raise connected the longer of these two adits. The total length of all four adits and associated cross-cuts and drifts is less than 700 feet. The lower adit portal lies at about 10,000 feet in elevation and was driven about 225 feet to the southwest. The longer of the upper adits was driven almost due south for about 350 feet. The remaining two adits were driven at about the same elevation as the upper adit and are each about 50 feet in length. The Homestake lies almost directly above the Gold Dust, with the workings separated by about 400 vertical feet of elevation. Both were driven in vain searching for the ore body within the Homestake Breccia Deposit. The main Homestake Adit, with the top of the winze exposed in the floor of the workings, has been closed with wooden timber portal sets and a locking steel gate. The other adits are closed with backfill or rock fall material at the portals (Kirk 2002). The site is in excellent condition with most of the structures associated with the mine still remaining. All structures retain fair architectural integrity and historical associations. Physical remains at the site consist of an open adit, an area of open cut workings, a loading terminal for the upper tramway, a trestle, and a ore bin and load out. Figure 3-1 is a photo of the site taken from the opposite side of the Fisher Creek Valley, showing the major features of the site. Figure 3-2 is a map of the Homestake Mine Site (24PA875). Figure 3-3 is a map of the workings from Lovering (1929). Feature 1 is the remaining open adit that opens to the northeast and is located on a steep north-facing mountainside (Figure 3-4). The adit has been closed with wooden timber portal sets and a locking steel gate. Feature 2 is an ore load-out and pilothouse. It measures 19.6 x 32.8 feet and is oriented southeast to northwest. It has heavy wood beam construction with vertical board and batten siding on the load-out and pilothouse. The ore chute has wood walls and faces northeast, while the pilothouse has a shed roof with exposed rafters supporting the overhanging eaves. Windows are on the southeast and northwest walls. The northwest window has a portion of window frame intact indicating that they were casements. The structure is built into the mountainside on a heavy wood frame foundation. Horizontal board and batten siding is on the facade of the load-out. This structure might have loaded trucks, for transport by road, or ore cars for transfer to the tram-loading terminal, designated as Feature 3. Figures 3-5 to 3-7 show the load out structure. 3-2 Feature 3 is the upper tram loading terminal. It had heavy wood beam construction with trusses. The tipple has horizontal board siding, while the tram operator’s house is flat- roofed with vertical board and batten siding. Entry is gained on the south (structure faces north). A single window is located west of the entry on the rear facade. The entry was reached by a wood deck that is now collapsed. There is board roofing on the terminal and the entire structure has a wood beam foundation. A tram cable support on the northwest side of the structure consists of wood trusses and metal cable guides. The bull wheel and break wheel are intact in the terminal, along with a reduction gearing system (possibly a speed retarding mechanism) and an ore feed chute with its control mechanism. The cables are lying more or less in place and can be seen leading down the steep slope to the Gold Dust Mine (24PA874) some 700 feet below. The entire structure is deteriorated. Figures 3-8 to 3-11 show the tram loading terminal. Feature 4 is a wood ore car load-out trestle with narrow gauge rails oriented northeast to southwest (Figure 3-12). It is deteriorated and is associated with the main adit (Feature 1). Feature 5 is an area of open pit mining. Located about 60 feet above the buildings, this area is accessed by a switchback road. It is hard to tell the extent of this open cutting as there may be some subsidence from the collapse of the adits and much of the natural rock fall and talus is hard to discern from the mine workings. Features 6, 7 and 8 are collapsed adits. These are nearly covered by subsequent workings or rock falls. Figure 3-1. Overview of the Homestake Mine (viewing south) showing the major features of the site. 3-3 Figure 3-2. Sketch map of the Homestake Mine. 3-4 Figure 3-2. Sketch map showing relationship of the Homestake, Daisy and Adit [Gold Dust] Mine workings (from Lovering 1929). 3-5 Figure 3-4. Feature 1, main adit looking south. Figure 3-5. Feature 2, ore load-out and pilothouse, looking southeast. 3-6 Figure 3-6. Feature 2, ore load-out and pilothouse, looking northeast. Homestake Mine History This mine can be traced back to 1885 when Sam Mathers filed a claim on what became the Homestake Mine. Two years later, Mathers shipped 30 tons of ore from the mine to a smelter in Salt Lake City. The ore netted him $3,000 and encouraged him to continue work on the mine's three adits, numerous crosscuts and minor drifts. A shop and shed were constructed near the intermediate level adit. The gold and silver mine was one of 279 mining claims in the New World District and, along with the Alice E. and Daisy Mines on the opposite side of Henderson Mountain, was one of the most productive. A tent camp (24PA919) located below the mine may have been associated with the workings in the late 19th century. By 1894, mining at the Homestake had ceased in the wake of the Silver Purchase Act and the resulting national depression (Fredlund, et al. 1990). To accommodate the miners and their families, Mathers constructed a small tent camp approximately 100 yards northwest and below the mine. The history of this camp is vague. The occupants probably worked for a season or two at the Homestake Mine. The tent camp, 24PA919, is located on a small, relatively flat ledge on Henderson Mountain about 200 feet below the Homestake Mine. The land drops steeply below this ledge overlooking the Fisher Creek drainage. The site consists of cleared and leveled areas for at least nine tents, a collapsed frame structure, a small waste dump and prospect shaft. The site area is roughly 440 feet x 110 feet (Fredlund, et al. 1990). 3-7 One 20 by 24 foot structure may have burned as there is a lot of melted glass about but no logs. It may have been the blacksmith shop. Rocks are piled up and may have been part of a foundation for a tent platform. Another irregularly shaped structure measures 28 x 18 feet, and is divided into two areas. A rock wall and a chopped log are located inside, possibly as central platform supports. In addition there are eight leveled areas measuring about 15 x 20 feet. These are probably tent locations. A cluster of crucibles lies near one of the tent platforms. Artifacts observed at the site include stove parts, soldered food cans and applied-lip bottle glass consistent with an 1880s-1890s occupation (Fredlund 1992). The features and artifacts of the camp make it an historic archeological site of 1880s mining occupation. The tent camp is significant as a component of the Early Development Period of the New World Historic Mining District, and clearly predates the WS&P period of involvement. The daily life of the tent camp occupant must have been almost unbearable by current standards. A summer night spent in an unheated cabin in Cooke City, 2500 ft below this location, is best described as uncomfortably invigorating. At this elevation, in a tent, it would have been truly inhospitable. With less than 30 annual frost-free nights, frequent high winds and severely inclement weather possible at any time, tents would have been quite inadequate.